Archive for the ‘Wisdom’ Tag

“Sun and rain, are both precious gifts from God. Yet, we consistently bitch when it rains because we don’t want to get wet. Good and bad, again are both precious gifts from God. Yet, we consistently bitch when something bad happens because we don’t want to deal with it. Do you see where I am going here? Good, apply this to your life, pronto.”-ME

I am an Event Manager. One of my duties as an Event Manager is effectively managing large crowds. This weekend I had the pleasure of managing a crowd of 30,000 plus crazed girls, aging from 5-18 (with some parents, not many though most of the young girls were dropped off), over the course of two days, which included three shows. Many of which are fanatical followers of Justin Bieber.

Surprisingly, Justin Bieber taught me a lesson in philosophy. I witnessed a lot over those two days. But one situation stood out in my mind in particular. Let me explain.

Starting around 10AM thousands of Bieber fans started to gather in hordes outside of the arena in which he was performing. Their goal was to catch a glimpse of Bieber. How important to them was this glimpse, even if it was only for half a second? I would say that to them it was equally important as taking their next breath of air. Think I am over exaggerating? Attend one of his concerts. No sarcasm or humor meant by that comparison, its simply the sad truth.

At one point during the day, I began to assist my workers in maintaining a secure perimeter around the back entrance to the arena. This was in an effort to not only keep the building safe, but the fans safe as well. I was at a barricaded entrance, which was holding back thousands of fans. My primary duty at that post was to let no one exit outside of the barricade.

A mother and her three daughters pleaded with me to let them pass. Their hope was to gain a better view so they could see Bieber. I explained to them several times for safety reasons that I could not do that. Eventually the mother gave up trying to plead her case. She looked me in the eyes and told me, “I will never forget your face. For the rest of my life, I will never forget your face. You have ruined mine and my daughters day.”

I replied, “Thank you very much.” She answered, “I will never forget your face.” I answered again, “I appreciate that.” Her three daughters were looking at me the whole time.

After the two day concert was over, I began to reflect back and wonder why all these young girls were so crazed about Bieber. That day I could have asked one of them to name off 20 facts about him, and they would have gave me an answer in under 1 minute. On the other hand, I could have asked one of them to name 5 facts about Jesus, God, Buddha, Hinduism, Judaism, etc and I would bet money one of the most popular answers I would hear would be, “Do you know when Justin is coming out?” Again think I am over exaggerating, please attend one of his concerts.

Naturally, I began to ponder what is wrong with these kids. I thought back to story I told you above about the mother and her three daughters. And I realized I was asking the wrong question. I should have been asking, “What is wrong with these parents?”

I am going to leave you with one fact, and keep everything I said above, and especially the last question I asked in mind. Justin Bieber has over 33 million twitter followers.

Have you ever considered that simple words in our language are used in a devious way? A way that we have never even considered? As writers and readers maybe you are more apt to pick up on this.

For example lets look at the words “no” and “yes”

“No swimming today in our pool.” “Yes, you can have that to eat.”

Stop. What is you initial reaction to the connotation of those two sentences?

Probably and arguably correct, the answer is negative for the first one and positive for the second one. But is that really the case? Let’s dissect the scenarios more presented by those two statements.

“No swimming today in our pool. There is a storm only minutes away. It is about to hit our house.”

All of sudden the negative connotation is suddenly changed with a little more information. “No”, is not such a bad thing right?

“Yes, you can have that to eat. But for dinner we are eating something else besides fried food.”

All of sudden the positive connotation has changed. “Yes”, is not such a good thing?

You may be thinking “duh” who doesn’t know with more information the connotation changes. That is not the point. From birth we are conditioned that “no” is negative, and “yes” is positive (Proven by your initial reaction to the first two sentence). The older we get the more this is instilled into our way of living. It becomes harder for us to say “no” and easier for us to say “yes”.

But is “no” really so bad? And is “yes” really so great? I think we all could learn how to say “no” more and “yes” less. You will be surprised by how much freedom this will create in your life.

Rules of Writing #57- Avoid over using adverbs and adjectives. This is a common issue that plagues beginner and seasoned writers the same. When re-reading your work, check for common mistakes, but be careful to notice over use of adverbs and adjectives.

For example, “I quickly ran to go see why Sarah was crying.” What is wrong with this sentence? It is not needed to say “quickly”, ran already implies quickly. Another example, “Sarah and I took a seat on the hood of her car. We gazed at the blue sky for what seemed like hours.” What is the issue here? Do we really need to say “blue” to describe the sky? Unless blue has a central theme to the story and plays a key part in that sentence, or rather the sky changing colors is a part of your story, you don’t need to place “blue” there. We all know the sky is blue. Save your adverbs and adjectives for really important parts that need detailed painting not for common every day subject matter.

Above were two minor examples. Make sure next time when you are proof reading your work to be watchful for the adverb and adjective over use. A lot of times simple and short sentences paint the best, vivid pictures for your readers. If a sentences seems convoluted and wordy, its probably because you have to many adverbs and adjectives. Take them out and now read how smoothly that sentence flows.

Often we are taught to look upward toward the sky for answers. The sky represents a bigger metaphor, which represents everything physical between us and the sky. Everything that will in fact give us no answers. To find God, to find the way, to find your answers, you must turn your eyes inward.-JMD

A long, long time ago…In a small forest village, there lived three best friends.
Harry the Goat, Lisa the Duck, and Sara the Rabbit.

Every day after school, they would meet outside Sara’s house to play. But they were always careful not to go into the Forbidden Forest.

The three friends would play all kinds of games. Hide and go seek, tag, and many others.
Harry, Lisa, and Sara always had a great time together. But there was one small problem.

Sara the rabbit always had to be in charge. She wanted things her way. She was bossy.
Sara would say things like, “Ok, today we are going to play house. I am the mother. Harry you are the baby and Lisa
you are the big sister.”

Lisa and Harry tried to speak up for themselves, but when they did Sara would to throw a fit and cry.
One day before they all met to play, Harry and Lisa decided to tell their parents about Sara’s tantrums.

Mother Rabbit was not happy to hear this at all. She decided to talk to all three before they went off to play.
Mother Rabbit said, “Listen up! You three are best friends. And best friends should always share and take turns when playing.”

Sara the Rabbit looked away and ignored her mother.
The three began to play a game of tag. Sara quickly yelled, “I am not it!”

Lisa the Duck replied, “But you are always not it Sara!”
Sara the Rabbit said, “So, I always get my way when we play, now let’s play!”

Harry the Goat spoke up, “Didn’t you hear what your mom said? We are to take turns. You are it today!”
Sara began to pout. But instead of giving in this time, Harry and Lisa held their ground.

Sara saw that she wasn’t going to get her way this time. She began to cry and started to run toward the Forbidden Forest.
“Fine!” she yelled. “I thought yall were my best friends. If I can’t get my way, I will find new friends!”

Harry and Lisa tried to stop her, but Sara was already in the Forbidden Forest before they could do anything.
Both Harry and Lisa agreed that she would back shortly after she was done pouting.

Sara began walking in the Forbidden forest, yelling ever few feet, “Hey! Anyone here want to be my new best friends?”
There was no reply.

The further she walked the darker it became. Sara started to hear strange noises and became afraid.
She asked again, “Does anyone want to be my friend?”

Sara did not know that Terry the Tiger was watching from behind a bush. Terry the Tiger spoke up, “I will be your friend.”
“Great!” said Sara. “Now here are the rules, I pick all the games and I am never it!”

Just before Sara made it to the bush, Terry the Tiger jumped out and grabbed Sara.
“Ah, I got you!” roared Terry. “You will make a fine dinner tonight.”

Terry the Tiger took Sara back to his house.
Harry and Lisa started to get worried. They decided to go into the Forbidden Forest to find their friend.

They walked around yelling Sara’s name, but there was no answer.
Harry and Lisa were about to give up when they heard a small voice say, “Hey guys, I know where your friend is, Terry the Tiger caught her.”

Eddie the Lizard stepped in front of Harry and Lisa. He told them all about how Terry tricked Sara and took her back to his house.
The three made a plan to trick Terry and rescue Sara.

Harry and Lisa started to walk again, yelling “Does anyone want to be our friend?”
Terry the Tiger was hiding in the same bush again and replied, “I will be your friend.”

Lisa answered, “You should meet us halfway.”
Terry the Tiger walked out of the bush. Right as Harry and Lisa saw his face, they both threw dirt into his eyes.

“Ahh, I can’t see! I can’t see!” roared Terry the Tiger.
Harry and Lisa ran as fast as they could back to Sara’s house.

While Harry and Lisa were distracting Terry the Tiger, Eddie the Lizard was able to sneak into the tiger’s house. Eddie untied Sara and they escaped together back to Sara’s house.

Sara the Rabbit was very happy to be safe. She told her friends how very sorry she was about running away and throwing a fit. She thanked Harry, Lisa, and Eddie. She told them she would start sharing and that she would take turns from now on.

Harry and Lisa forgave Sara. The three became closer as friends.
They had also found a new friend in Eddie the Lizard.

The four of them played many games together. Always taking turns and sharing while having fun.
Sara, Harry, Lisa, and Eddie lived happily ever after.